Sleep patterning is a concept that is becoming quite popular in recent times. Health experts tell people that they have to maintain regular sleep patterns if they want to ensure that their health is in top condition. This is not done as easily as one thinks. Planning is needed. It is also important to make sleep a part of our lifestyle

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In practical advice books, like anything else in life, there are no
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You are encouraged to print this book for easy reading.

3. - 3 -
Table Of Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1:
What’s So Good about Sleep Anyway?
Chapter 2:
But I Am Not Tired… I Won’t Sleep!
Chapter 3:
Does Counting Sheep Really Work?
Chapter 4:
I Need More Sleep… I Never Seem to
Have Had Enough
Chapter 5:
An Hour before Midnight Is Worth Two
After
Chapter 6:
6 Tips for a Power Nap
Chapter 7:
I Had This Awesome Dream Last Night
Chapter 8:
There Are Only 24 Hours in a Day
Wrapping Up

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Foreword
Of the many things that we do just instinctively and do not give much
of a thought to, sleep is probably the most prominent one. Most of us
sleep only because we have to. We sleep because we cannot stay
awake all 24 hours in the day.
Instead of sleep being something that we need to keep our bodies
charged and maintain our health and wellbeing, most of us regard it
as an obligation… something that nature has ordained us to do and
hence we have to follow it.
However, this is definitely not the view held by the several health
experts, meditation gurus, spiritual gurus and sleep counselors.
According to these people, one should not sleep out of compulsion.
Just like how we plan what to eat and spend a significant part of the
day in planning and preparing our meals, sleep needs to be planned
as well. It is not enough just to have a nice bedroom with a cozy bed
to sleep in.
Sleep patterning is a concept that is becoming quite popular in recent
times. Health experts tell people that they have to maintain regular
sleep patterns if they want to ensure that their health is in top
condition. This is not done as easily as one thinks. Planning is
needed.
It is also important to make sleep a part of our lifestyle. Or, to put it
better, we should create a lifestyle in which sleep is given its due
prominence. It is only when we are able to do that that we can
unleash the tremendous healing effects of sleep. Yes, sleep does have

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healing benefits, and, as most people think, these healing benefits
aren’t just confined to our psychological state; they also pour out into
our physical being. Good sleep is needed for our mental as well as
physical enhancement.
In this eBook, Sleep Sanctuary—Salvation for the Sleep-Deprived, I
am going to deal with three important aspects. I am not going to
divide these three aspects into different sections, because that would
not be the right way to do so, but I am going to intersperse them
everywhere throughout this e-Book.
These three aspects are:-
 Why is sleep important to our wellbeing? This will be followed
by several discussions on why we just cannot do without the
right amount of sleep in our lives.
 Why do some people have sleep problems and why these
problems are becoming more acute in recent times? Here we
shall talk about problems such as sleep apnea, insomnia,
restlessness and other problems that keep us away from getting
adequate amounts of sleeps. The focus will be on present times,
because today we are sleeping less than ever before. This is
bringing in its wake a host of problems, and one of the reasons
why we are visiting a lot more doctors today than before is
because we do not sleep well.
 What can we do to improve our sleep patterns? This is the
most important part of the eBook and you will find the
information strewn throughout. With several illustrations, tips
and strategies, I shall endeavor to tell you what we can do to

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improve our sleep patterns, especially in today’s sleep-deprived
times.
I would ironically request you to “wake up” and read this eBook on
sleep deprivation! That’s because you have to pay full attention to
this; it is something that will tell you what’s missing in your life, and
why. Wake up, smell the coffee, and plan to live a lifestyle in which
sleep gets its due importance.
Sleeping Sanctuary - Salvation For The Sleep Deprived
The Ultimate Guide To Sleeping, Napping, Resting And
Restoring Your Energy

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Chapter 1:
What’s So Good about Sleep Anyway?
Synopsis
At the outset, it is best to understand why sleep is so important to us,
especially in today’s day and age. Our general health has degenerated
in recent times; that’s a fact no one can detract. Now, there are
several reasons why our health has taken a tumble. We are moving
away from nature and our own natural body patterns each day that
we live. Our food has become synthetic for its most part, the clothes
that we wear and most of the things that we use are not natural at all,
even our civilization itself is completely away from the rule book of
nature.
It is for this reason that we are facing so many health perils today.
And, one of the most profound elements that is sordidly missing from
our lifestyle is a healthy sleep pattern.
In this chapter, we shall see why sleep is important. Why is it
important for us to devote at least 7 to 9 hours of our day to sleep?
How does sleeplessness or sleep deprivation affect our lives? These
are important questions to answer before we move along with things.

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What’s So Good about Sleep Anyway?
Finding time to sleep in our busy schedules is extremely important
for our health and wellbeing. Most people push the boundaries when
it comes to sleep. We restrict the time we allow for sleep, going to bed
progressively later as we try to fit in the many different jobs that need
completion each day. We underestimate the importance of sleep.
Without adequate sleep our bodies will react, and those important
schedules we put off sleep to achieve, will be affected eventually.
It’s only recently that we have begun to fully understand just how
much our body needs sleep to function properly. Most of the body’s
normal activities rely on us having a regular sleep and an interrupted
sleep pattern is a significant stress on our bodies.
Our nervous system, our digestive system and the ability of our body
to repair itself are all dependent on our sleep cycles being consistent
and regular. When we deprive our body of sleep, we inhibit our brains
ability to make decision, our emotional responses to situations may
be compromised, and even how we interact socially may be affected.
Sleep is as necessary for our health as eating and drinking is. It has
long been recognized that sleep deprivation is an effective torture
tool, and experiments using rats have revealed that they their live
expectancy is significantly reduced when they are sleep deprived
under experimental conditions.
How much sleep a person needs is dependent on factors such as age
and gender. Pregnant women for example, may require more sleep
than a non-pregnant woman of the same age group and a child may

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require more sleep than an adult, however an older adult generally
requires less sleep than a younger adult.
The amount of sleep an individual needs is fairly consistent with their
age group. A typical adult will require approximately 7-9 hours of
sleep a night to maintain optimum health and performance. If we
reduce that amount of sleep time over a series of nights, our body will
eventually react and we need to make up that time, usually in what is
termed as a “sleep in”.
However, even though we know we will sleep in on the weekend, our
performance during the working week may be severely affected by our
lack of sleep. If we find ourselves excessively yawning during the day,
or finding it difficult to remember simple details or make simple
judgment calls correctly, it is possible we are suffering from sleep
deprivation.
People take micro sleeps where they lose consciousness for very short
periods of time without realizing it, leading to potentially dangerous
situations. Many road deaths and incidents at work have been directly
traced to insufficient sleep the night before. With so many serious
side effects and consequences of not sleeping, we should all be
ensuring we schedule adequate sleep into our daily lives.

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Chapter 2:
But I Am Not Tired… I Won’t Sleep!
Synopsis
A very important aspect of sleep deprivation that the world is facing
today, and probably a contributor to that as well, is our own
unwillingness to sleep. We know that sleep is important; we even
know that if we do not sleep adequately, then it will create a lot of
problems for us in future, but we are still in denial and we do not give
this very essential part of our lives its due importance.
What is it that is making us not sleep? There are so many people who
are burning the midnight lamp for various reasons, but to what avail?
Are deadlines so important that we should lose sleep over them?
What effects can such a hazardous lifestyle have on our health?
In this chapter, we are going to see what makes people lose sleep. We
learn, through the concept of Circadian Rhythms, that our body is
made to behave in a particular way. The mechanism of our body
ordains that it should sleep, and the amount of sleep it gets should be
adequate.

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But I Am Not Tired… I Won’t Sleep!
We all know if we are “morning” people or “evening” people. Many
people can jump out of bed easily in the morning, often without the
need for an alarm clock. At 9 pm in the evening they are ready to
sleep, their ability to focus and think clearly severely diminished. Yet
they may be married to someone who finds it extremely difficult to
get out of bed in the mornings, but at 9 pm at night they are awake
and produce their best quality work.
The difference between this pair is their biological clock that affects
what are called the Circadian Rhythms. The hormone melatonin,
which is produced in the brain in response to darkness, increases at
night and is decreased during the day. Melatonin makes you feel
drowsy and reduces your body temperature. Blood levels of the
hormone are highest around midnight and levels gradually reduce in
the second half of the night.
Every individual has his or her own minor variation to this hormonal
response. This variation is the reason why some people feel sleepy
earlier than others. Age is also a contributing factor to our sleep
needs.
The area that controls the production of melatonin also controls other
body functions such as blood pressure and urine production which
are reduced at night.
The wake sleep cycle is the rise and fall of melatonin and the response
of our body to its production or lack of production are the symptoms
we feel when we are tired and the alert feelings we have when we are

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awake during periods when there are low levels of melatonin
circulating in our blood.
The levels of melatonin reducing once you are exposed to day light
explains why you gradually feel more energetic and less sleepy after
you have been awake for a while.
Many people believe that their morning coffee is essential for them to
wake up, but while to a degree this is true as caffeine is a stimulant,
simultaneously your body’s levels of melatonin are reducing under
the influence of the day light creating a more alert feeling and less
drowsiness which is stimulated further by your cup of coffee or tea.
The amount of sleep we need and the reason why we don’t always feel
sleepy at night, and yet feel very sleepy in the afternoon after a big
meal, or on a hot day is dependent on a number of factors. There are
other reasons for feeling less than energetic in the afternoon, which
must be addressed.
The types of food we eat for lunch for example will affect our
afternoon energy levels, but some people do experience a slight rise in
melatonin levels in the afternoon and a slight drop in body
temperature, and while this does not have the same effect as night
time melatonin, it does cause drowsiness and a need for daytime
naps.

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Chapter 3:
Does Counting Sheep Really Work?
Synopsis
A lot of people around us, people walking the face of the earth just as
we do, are deprived. They are deprived of sleep. Sleep is a natural gift,
but these people have taken their lives so far away from the rule of
nature that they have quite literally lost sleep.
However, sleep is something that we just cannot do without, isn’t it?
Even if people have been walking on the wild side where sleep is
concerned, a time comes when they try to call it back. They want a
healthy sleeping pattern to be formulated in their lives once again,
and most of these people are prepared to do several logical and
illogical things for it.
People try everything from meditation to medication; they try to
improve their breathing patterns, they try to imbibe new relaxation
methods within themselves… all this is an unending quest to call
sleep back into their nocturnal, and sometimes even diurnal, lives.
But, do these methods work? Can lost sleep be regained? This chapter
delves into such methods and reveals which of these sleep-inducing
methods work and which do not.
And, yes, also keep your eyes out to read about whether old wives’
tales like counting sheep work if you are looking for good sleep.

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Does Counting Sheep Really Work?
Have you ever tried counting sheep in the hope it will help you sleep?
When you are feeling tired but you can’t sleep, it can be very
frustrating. Approximately half of all people in the USA experience
trouble sleeping. In desperation, many of them try medications,
meditations; in fact, anything they can think of, to help them relax
and sleep. Do these techniques work and end the insomnia (inability
to sleep)?
Counting sheep sounds like “an old wives tale”. It can work, and
psychologists have shown that it probably works by focusing both
sides of your brain on the one subject, not giving you chance to think
about other things that keep your brain active.
Other people try medications. Most are supplied on prescription with
medical supervisions. There are two main types of “sleeping” tablets;
the tablets to help you fall asleep and others that will help you to stay
asleep. Many people do notice an immediate improvement in their
sleeping patterns when they take medications, however the body
quickly develops a tolerance to them and they have a rebound effect
that has the opposite reaction to their intended use. In other words, if
you take sleeping tablets over a long period of time, it is probable you
will start to have insomnia problems even though you are taking the
medications.

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There are many remedies popular with insomniacs and all have their
supporters who will tell you they work. These include having a hot
drink or bath before bed, not drinking caffeinated drinks after a
certain time of day and restricting stimulating activities, like exercise
before bed. Each of these remedies have their rationale rooted in the
idea of allowing your body time to relax and prepare itself for sleep
and reducing activities that include the use of light, which prevents
the release of melatonin.
For most people, preparing the bedroom and yourself for sleep can
help promote sleep and there is plenty of research suggesting that
everyone, even those who don’t suffer from insomnia should allow
time to prepare for bed and to keep the bedroom for activities that
contribute to sleep and don’t stimulate the brain. Using favorite
relaxation techniques before bed such as prayer or yoga or meditation
may help you feel ready for bed. Ensuring the room is dark, there are
no illuminated clocks or computers that create light, may also create
optimum conditions for sleep.
It is important to remember that insomnia though it affects so many
people and interferes with many normal body functions, anxiety over
the condition is likely to create stress and tension and increase the
chances of insomnia continuing. If you are not able to sleep,
especially if it is not a regular problem for you, don’t lie in bed but
worrying about it, but try to use some of the relaxation techniques
mentioned. Seek medical attention if the insomnia continues.

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Chapter 4:
I Need More Sleep… I Never Seem to Have Had Enough
Synopsis
Sleep deprivation means that we do not get the sleep that we need for
our proper wellbeing. This is a precarious road that all of us are
treading currently. We are compromising with our sleep for various
reasons. The human body needs to sleep for 7 to 9 hours each day, but
hardly are we getting that. One of the biggest problems lies in our
faulty scheduling of our time. We are not able to manage things
effectively and that is why we end up spending our sleep time doing
other things, like that work we bring home from the office.
This is definitely dangerous territory. If we are not able to sleep
effectively, then we spend the next day getting tired and restless. We
aren’t able to put in our creative best. Our thought patterns begin to
falter. Our mind gets clouded with various psychological problems
and the difficulties begin to crop up.
That is where this feeling starts cropping in. We sleep, but we do not
find it to be adequate. Something somewhere, something vital, seems
to be missing. We want to put in more hours of rest, but it doesn’t
happen.
Health experts are also talking right now about the so-called ‘sleep
debt’ a concept that should scare most people who are living a rapid
lifestyle today. This sleep debt is about how our lost sleep will one day
catch up with us. Nature has decreed that we should spend one-third
of our life sleeping. If we do not do that, then it can imperil us in

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some way. A lot of people feel that they can keep up through the night
just on cups of coffee, but it doesn’t work that way. We may be
pushing sleep back as much as we can, but we must also know that
this lost sleep will manifest itself in the form of health problems at
some time or the other.
Sleep deprivation is the reason we feel tired all the time, why we are
not able to put in our best.

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I Need More Sleep… I Never Seem to Have Had
Enough
Are you one of those people who have a normal night’s sleep (7-9
hours), yet you still feel tired during the day? Have you ever
wondered why you just cannot seem to go for more than a few hours
without feeling you need a sleep?
During the evening, conditions work together to create optimum
conditions for the release of melatonin, a hormone that is released
into our blood streams and produce the drowsiness that alerts us to
“feeling tired” and ready for bed at night. Some people experience a
release of this hormone in the afternoon and it is responsible for the
feeling of lethargy and tiredness in the early afternoon.
There are many people however, who experience this drowsiness for
other reasons. Certain medical conditions can affect people, which
even though they may have a regular sleep and waking pattern and
spend the average number of hours in bed sleeping, they are still not
receiving adequate sleep for their body to function without
drowsiness during the day.
Some of the most common of these disorders include:-
Sleep Apnea
If you snore when you sleep, it is highly likely you may also have a
condition known as sleep apnea. People with this condition actually
stop breathing for short periods while they are sleeping. This causes a
drop in blood oxygen levels, and the brain disturbs the sleep of the

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person to ensure they breathe. If this happens regularly through the
night, it will make you tired throughout the day.
Limb Movements
Some people are affected at night by the need to move their legs and
limbs due to “restless legs” a syndrome that causes tingling or other
unusual sensations in the limbs. Other people experience sudden
movements in their limbs and this causes their legs or arms to jerk
suddenly and without warning. Both of these conditions, even if they
occur subconsciously will interfere with the sleep cycle and disturb
sleep.
Medical Reasons
There are large groups of people who fall asleep during the day for
very short periods of time regularly. These micro-sleeps maybe
hereditary or maybe caused by some brain dysfunction.
If you or a loved one experience any of these symptoms and feel tired
and often feel tired throughout the day you should seek medical
advice.
Feeling tired throughout the day may also be simply a result of the
food we eat during the day. Research is showing that foods that are
highly processed and high in carbohydrates may raise our blood sugar
levels suddenly and create a sudden drop in the afternoon creating
the afternoon lethargy most of us know very well. Having a lunch that
includes protein and ensuring that exercise is included in the days
routine may help to reverse the effect of this very common reason for
feeling sleepy during the day despite a good night’s sleep.

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Chapter 5:
An Hour before Midnight Is Worth Two after
Synopsis
In this chapter, we shall be answering some vital questions about
sleep. We know that we all need to sleep adequately, but how much is
really enough? In this chapter, we will speak about how many hours
of sleep do we need really.
Also, the hours that we sleep are important. It matters at what time
we go to sleep and at what time we wake up. Our wellbeing depends
not only on the duration of our sleep, but it also depends on the exact
timings of our sleep.
We shall be seeing the best time to sleep in this chapter.
In the process, we shall be putting to rest some old wives’ tales about
sleep. What is real and what is just a superstition? Read on to know
more about sleep.

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An Hour before Midnight Is Worth Two after
Most of us remember going to bed early as young children and our
bedtime getting progressively later as we progressed into our teen
years. As adults, we probably have an idea on the amount of sleep we
generally need to feel in optimum condition the following day. We
know the effect that a late night will have, especially if it is followed by
an early morning and a long day at work.
Most adults require 7-9 hours of sleep a night, although for others it is
very individual with many requiring a greater or less need. Young
babies under 3 months old, tend to have high levels of melatonin in
their circulation and sleep long hours under its influence.
As their pineal gland matures, the biological clock starts to develop
regular wake and sleep cycles and babies and young children
gradually need less hours of sleep. Young children will still require
approximately 10 hours sleep at night and adolescents may require 9-
10 hours a night.
As adults age, they will wake more regularly at night either due to
health related reasons or because they are sleeping lighter and their
sleep is more often interrupted. Older people often need to sleep
during the day to compensate for the disturbed sleep patterns at night
With the busy lifestyles, we lead and the attraction of home
entertainment and computers, many people are sleep deprived. They
go to bed too late and wake up too early and eventually the body will
respond physically to this lack of sleep.

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Researchers suggest that sleeping before midnight may have
significant health benefits particularly to body functions and cardiac
health. Research continues to determine if the important factor in the
relationship between health and sleep is how many hours a person
actually sleeps, or when they actually sleep and if an early bedtime
offers health advantages over a later one.
What is definitely emerging in all studies is the reduction in blood
pressure readings and decreased circulating fats in those who have
the recommended number of hours of sleep at night. Those who sleep
before midnight appeared to have less physical symptoms of cardiac
disorders than those who slept after midnight.
Most experts speculate that the later we go to sleep, the greater the
potential of interfering with our biological clock. This has the
potential for the development of significant health problems. Maybe
as a child, you used to talk of going to bed early being a means of
staying smart, making money and having fewer health problems, and
the evidence is definitely supporting this famous children’s rhyme.
The research certainly indicates that people who become disciplined
with a more scheduled approach to the time they wake and the time
they sleep will have immediate and long-term health benefits. This
resets the body clock and reduces the incidence of insomnia.

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Chapter 6:
6 Tips for a Power Nap
Synopsis
Our current lifestyle is such that we may not get adequate sleep
during the night. We often need to keep up late hours because we
have so much work to do or because we are socializing, and that can
be a problem for our sleep timings. To add to that, we might also need
to wake up early in the morning, which could wreck our schedule too.
That is the reason why some people have invented the idea of a power
nap. A power nap is a short nap, usually of just a few hours, during
which you sleep in a sound and undisturbed manner, and wake up
feeling totally refreshed. Hitherto considered impossible, now more
and more people are trying out power naps and are succeeding at
them too. They are finding that taking such short power naps
throughout the day keeps them perked up and they can do more than
they usually do with their deprived sleep routines.
Power naps have several physiological benefits as well. They are not
just about giving us some much-needed sleep, but they can actually
help us biologically. We may live longer because of power naps. We
are going to see about these benefits as well.

24. - 24 -
6 Tips for a Power Nap
Most people are more than aware of how difficult it can be to stay
awake in the heat of the middle parts of the day. As the early
afternoon approaches, many of us find it difficult to stay awake. We
become drowsy and find it very difficult to focus and complete our
work. Some people find they hallucinate or fall asleep for a few
minutes. These situations can be extremely dangerous, especially if
handling electrical equipment or driving a car.
Why we feel that sleepy is due to many factors. Our internal body
clock and our natural body rhythms, the temperature of the
environment we are working in, the lighting in that environment, how
much time we spend working on computers and what we eat for our
breaks all play an important role on how we feel in the afternoon.
There is growing evidence that a 20-minute nap in the afternoon
improves focus and memory, which increases productivity and
workplace safety. Those who work at home or who are in a position to
take this “power” nap, will benefit from it and should take advantage
of the opportunity to have one whenever they can.
Many cultures around the world have recognized the need to close
shops, schools, and businesses and include an afternoon siesta into
the daily routine. Today, in the fast-paced lifestyles of the
industrialized world are embracing the afternoon nap, not so much as
a luxury, but a necessity to help them deal with the many expectations
on their time in the afternoon and evening.
Workplaces around the world are providing space for their staff to
take a power nap, recognizing the benefit to the workplace when staff

25. - 25 -
does have time to take one. If this is not possible in your workplace,
there are things you can do:-
 Take a 10-minute nap in your car or in another safe area during
your lunch break. Even these ten minutes could mean a lot to
you. However, when you are preparing yourself to take such a
short nap, make sure to free your mind of all distractions just
surrender yourself completely to sleep. Maybe you could use
some soothing music to help you free your mind completely.
When you wake up, you will feel the difference.
 Take some time during your lunch break to include exercise.
Physical exercise improves circulation of the blood, improves
oxygen levels in the blood, and raises body temperature all of
which reduces drowsiness and fatigue. Consequently, when you
try to take a power nap later in the day, you will find that the
short surrender to sleep comes more easily to you. If you keep
working your body effectively, then sleep patterns will definitely
improve and you will find the difference in these short power
naps you take as well.
 Eat lunch that is not high in sugar or carbohydrates. Include
protein sources such as low fat cheese, meat or chicken to
reduce the chance of a sudden drop in blood sugar levels which
create a lack of energy and feelings of drowsiness. Heavy foods
have a tendency to make you lose sleep, and even if you do fall
asleep, your sleep will be highly erratic. The best way is to keep
a light meal, which helps you psychologically as well.

26. - 26 -
 Go for a walk and increase the amount of natural light in your
work area to reduce melatonin production levels in the
afternoon. Apart from that, the walk in natural beauty that you
take will also help your body to control its mind in a better way
and, resultantly, you will be able to sleep better.
 Join a meditation class, especially Yoga. In these classes, you
will be taught how you can control your mind. This is a very
important thing to learn, especially in today’s times. When you
learn how to control your mind, you will be able to switch it ‘on’
or ‘off’ as desired. This can go a long way in improving your
health. Firstly, you will be taught through various asanas,
mainly the Shavasana, that you can completely surrender your
body and let it loose in both the physiological and psychological
sense. This helps us to free ourselves from our bodies for a
while, and the body goes to sleep. This is a wonderful way to
find those important snatches of sleep, wherever you are. You
may not be able to perform the Shavasana at all times, but you
will certainly be able to learn how to have those all-important
power naps whenever you need to.
 You can have a short power nap in your swiveling chair itself.
All you have to do is to lock the door and tell people not to
disturb you for the next 20 minutes. Then, pull the shades if you
can, settle in the most comfortable position you can on the chair
and close your eyes. Free your mind from all its thoughts, or
think about something pleasant. You will find that sleep
encompasses you soon, and you will have your power nap.

27. - 27 -
When you have these power naps, in the beginning you may find it
difficult to wake up at the right time. But as time passes, this will
become a habit. Initially, you may have to set an alarm on your cell
phone to wake you up or you may have to tell someone to do that.
However, soon your body’s system will adjust to the new routine and
you will find out that you are able to sleep more easily, and wake up
on dot.
These simple steps may help reduce the afternoon drowsiness and
enable you to function in the afternoons with as much productivity as
when you arrived at work that morning. Combining them with a
regular time to wake up and go to bed and a healthy lifestyle approach
to diet and exercise will help you feel more energized and able to
increase your personal productivity.
Binaural Beats
When we are having a discussion on power naps, it is relevant to
speak about binaural beats as well. Binaural beats are a specific kind
of music, which are made up of specific natural sounds that have a
soothing effect on the human body. You might find sounds like birds
chirping, insects humming, grass swishing in the breeze, ocean waves
moving in rhythm and such others in these binaural beats.
When you are preparing for your power nap, just play this music. You
will experience the benefits right away. You will find that, as soon as
the music begins to play, your mind will surrender itself to the
rhythm of the beats. As these are mostly natural sounds, your mind
will completely give itself up to them.

28. - 28 -
A typical binaural beats track lasts around 20 minutes. This is exactly
the time you require for your power nap. You could get this kind of
music in MP3 form, downloadable from the Internet. Get it on your
MP3 player or iPod and use it whenever you want. Just shut your eyes
and let the music play. You will soon fall asleep, and you will see a
vast difference when you wake up.
Even if you are suffering from problems such as sleeplessness
(insomnia), binaural beats can help. A lot of people are recommended
using this music at night so that they can get proper sleep, and not
have to toss and turn in bed for long.

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Chapter 7:
I Had This Awesome Dream Last Night!
Synopsis
When we sleep, we surrender ourselves to a parallel universe. We do
not control ourselves when we sleep. We submit ourselves to our
surroundings, to the people around us, to our environments.
And then we dream. Dreams are an enigmatic area of study even
today. No one knows for sure why we dream and what these dreams
mean, if anything at all.
We do not know for sure why we get pleasant dreams sometimes and
nightmares some other times. There is also no reason (none that we
know of) for why we get dreams on some nights and don’t on some
others. Sleep experts conjecture that we dream all the time—as soon
as we go into the sleep mode—but we do not remember most of these
dreams when we wake up.
So, why do some dreams leave an impression on our minds, enough
for us to remember them when we wake them, and some are
forgotten altogether?
There are other problems as well. People do not have the same kind of
sleeping habits. Some people sleep fitfully, while others sleep with
complete abandon.
Any single person won’t sleep in the same manner every night. Our
sleep is as varied as it can be, only we do not realize it most of the

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time because when we sleep, we are completely in a transcendental
stage, an altogether different world.
Why do some people wake up shrieking in the middle of the night,
bathed in cold sweat? Why do some people smile when they are
sleeping? Why do some people toss restlessly when they are sleeping?
Why do some people walk in their sleep?
These are all mysteries that modern science still does not have
concrete answers for. We do not know why these things happen. We
do not have any rational answers for why these kinds of things
happen to one person and do not happen to another.
We shall be taking a closer look at such problems in this chapter.

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I Had This Awesome Dream Last Night!
Most people spend about 2 hours a night dreaming, although for
many of us remembering a dream may be unusual. Why we dream is
still the subject of many studies and research projects, however, over
the past 30 years research has helped us understand a great deal
about dreams and the place of dreaming in our waking and sleeping
cycle.
Until recently it was thought that sleep caused all bodily functions to
sleep and to rest. Today it is known that far from being a rest time,
much of the normal body functions continue as we sleep. This
includes our brains, which continue to be active throughout the night.
When we sleep we pass through five stages of sleep, the last one of
these stages is called “REM” or Random Eye Movement sleep that is
characterized by rapid eye movements and our heart and breath rate
rises, our blood pressure rises and this is the stage that we have
dreams.
Throughout the night, our sleep cycles through these five stages. The
first two are light sleep stages, and the third and fourth stages are
typically the sleep we refer to as “deep sleep”. The fifth stage is the
REM sleep. As the night progresses, the period of REM sleep
increases and the period of deep sleep decreases.
People, particularly children who are woken or disturbed during deep
sleep will often hallucinate and experience night terrors or
nightmares.

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Different nerve cells in the brain (known as neurotransmitters) carry
the signal to move from stage to stage in the sleep cycles. The
messages they carry can be affected by the things we eat and drink,
and by such external stimuli as light and noise and for those who
smoke, nicotine addiction. These affect the amount of time we spend
in REM and it is known that we need the REM sleep for healthy
living.
When deprived of REM sleep, laboratory rats died very quickly.
People, who are sleep deprived as a form of torture, will also have less
REM sleep. REM sleep is essential for optimal memory and brain
function. Lack of REM sleep leaves us feeling tired and lethargic
throughout the day. It impairs our memory and our judgment and
affects our mood. The person who does not have chronic insomnia,
will usually require extra “catch up” sleep, after experiencing
consecutive days with reduced sleep.
The important factor in ensuring you get enough sleep is to recognize
and accept the importance of sleep. Your body relies on sleep to
function properly and depriving it of sleep to get things done, will
actually have the reverse effect. To achieve the “to do” list effectively
and safely, you must sleep. Accept that your physical and mental
wellbeing depends on your having the right amount of sleep at night
and do your best to set up your life routines to accommodate
adequate time to sleep the recommended hours for your age group.

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Chapter 8:
There Are Only 24 Hours in a Day
Synopsis
At the end of it all, we need to realize that we only have 24 hours in
our day. All our days are the same, at least when we talk about the
quantity of time that we have with us per day. But, we may be busier
on some days than on others.
We may have an important social function on one day and nothing to
do on the other day. Whatever the nature of our day might be, one
thing is certain—we just have 24 hours every day to do what we want.
That is the reason we have to become effective time managers. We
have to make sure that we plan our routines in such a way that we are
able to make the most of it. We have to be able to manage our sleep
timings and work timings in such a manner that both get adequate
importance.
Upsetting the balance just won’t do. Both parts of our life are vitally
important to our existence, and we cannot undermine that fact under
any circumstances.

34. - 34 -
There Are Only 24 Hours in a Day
If you are finding yourself tired during the day, yawning during
meetings, or overly drowsy when working in a warm room, it’s
possible you are “sleep deprived”. Sleep deprivation is probably one of
the most common side effects of our super busy lifestyles. While
many people consider that “feeling tired all the time” is a cheap price
to pay for being a high achiever, reality is, over time, sleep
deprivation will create health problems that will increase over time.
Many people do not realize how little they sleep over the course of a
week and it may help to track your own sleeping habits using a sleep
diary. In your diary, record when you go to sleep each night and when
you wake up the next morning. Document if you need an alarm clock
to wake you up and how long it took you approximately to fall asleep.
Describe in your diary how you are feeling during the day and
especially record the foods you eat and when during the day you feel
tired.
Over time, you will observe your own unique cycle to enable you to
plan your life choices around that cycle. Plan time in your daily
schedule to have a set wake up time and bedtime and if possible
create a naptime each afternoon. Prioritize your regulated sleep times
and do not compromise on them.
Create routines in your day and include meal times. Increase the
amount of fruit and vegetables, good oils and proteins in your diet
and reduce the amount of carbohydrates, particularly those that are
highly refined white carbohydrates like white bread or rice. Ensure
you have time to exercise regularly.

35. - 35 -
Doctors have described a condition known as “sleep debt”. This
describes the sleep you do not get during the week compared to what
is an average amount of sleep required for your age group. Debt
always implies that something must be repaid, and in this context, a
lack of sleep must be repaid. Over the course of a year, this may
account for two weeks less sleep and the result can be weight gain,
impaired vision, raised blood pressure insulin resistance, and cardiac
disease.
To enable your body to reestablish a waking sleeping cycle, and to
restore normal REM sleep, research has shown that it is important to
make up the lost sleep. It is not enough to consider a sleep in on the
weekend will repay the debt of a week where you may have slept only
a few hours a day.
Research suggests that to reverse the effects of sleep deprivation,
you must repay for all the hours or sleep you missed, which
effectively means, increase the amount of sleep you have each night
for an extended period of time.
You will notice your body starts to form a cycle of waking and
sleeping again. You will begin to feel energized and less tired all the
time and your health will improve.

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Wrapping Up
A healthy sleep is most essential to our wellbeing. We just cannot
walk on the wild side too much… we cannot rob our bodies of the
sleep that it needs. If we do that too often, our body is naturally going
to rebel. Our bodies and minds do not work in tandem most of the
time.
Though our mind might tell you that a particular approaching
deadline is important and that we need to stay awake to do what we
should, our body is not going to understand it. It is going to revolt in
its own way if we listen too much to our mind and ignore the needs of
our body.
And that is not going to be good for the mind either. When the body
revolts, the mind is definitely going to feel the pressure as well. The
effects of the body’s rebellion will be manifested on the mind in
various ways—stress, depression, lack of concentration, lethargy,
feeling of extreme tiredness and even phobias and lack of creativity
and productivity.
In the world of blatant competition such as what we live in, this kind
of loss of skill and talent just won’t do. We cannot sit back and let our
health take control of us.
Hence, it is important for us to realize that sleep is important. Sleep is
not just a waste of time, a time when we do ‘nothing’. On the contrary,
this is the time when our body is getting charged up. Even as we
sleep, various metabolic functions are taking place in our body and
they are handling the wear and tear of the body. They are repairing it

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with the various mechanisms they have available to them. The body is
also working silently, and enhancing itself in various ways.
Also, the mind is working when we are sleeping. It works
subconsciously. We create thoughts and ideas as we sleep. A part of
our productivity—in fact, the most creative part of our productivity—
is generated when we sleep.
In conclusion, sleep isn’t something that you should undermine. It
isn’t something that can be taken lightly. We have to try at all times to
schedule our day so that we can work in a healthy sleep pattern in it.
The returns of such an endeavor are immense. We grow in health,
and we are able to spend a better and more productive time and effort
for whatever we do.
Hopefully, this e-Book has emphasized on the importance of sleep
and guided you in ways where you can improve your sleeping
patterns.
All the best to you!